Can you not update the download on the page and add a note saying "Releases downloaded prior to xx/xx/xx . . .", explaining? It will not be much hassle for users who wish to update their encoder, and it will be available to those outside of this fine community.

I agree : strict procedures are OK, but a bit of pragmatism is better. If there is a patch and if this patch works like Josh just said, then the patch should be available for download directly at FLAC's official site until the next minor release is out.

I wanted to check out the 'better multichannel support' of this new flac release so I did the following:

I extracted some PCM .wav files from a DVD-A disc I own, they're 24 bit 44.1KHz. I used Wavewizard v0.54b to merge the 6 .wav files according to Microsoft's standard order (L, R, C, LFE, RL, RR) into one big 5.1 24bit PCM .wav.

I then fed this file to convert using Foobar 0.9.4.2 set to preserve the bit depth and using the standard commandline: -s -8 - -o %d (even put my windows locale to English (UK)). This conversion failed and gives me the following error: Error writing to file (Encoder has terminated prematurely with code 1; please re-check parameters).

I tried feeding the same merged .wav file to the official flac frontend but it failed too, giving me both a warning (legacy WAVE file has format type 1 but bits-per-sample=24) and an error (WAVE has >2 channels but is not WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE; cannot assign channels.

I've been converting my DVD-A discs using this very same method combined with FLAC 1.1.2 without any problems before. Moreover, putting back the 'old' flac.exe (1.1.2) to the Foobar folder results in a perfect encode.

What's up with the 'better mutlichannel support'?

(Regardless of this, thank you very much for creating this nice lossless encoder!)

Besides convincing Peter to add _EXTENSIBLE support to Converter, you can try the following undocumented option:

QUOTE (jcoalson @ Nov 16 2006, 11:21)

QUOTE (Egor @ Nov 7 2006, 00:13)

Foobar2000 generates multichannel WAV files, which are not compatible with flac.exe 1.1.3 and Windows Media Encoder. I've sent you a sample to the address at sf.net.

ok, these look like the WAV files flac used to generate too, they are 6ch WAVEFORMATEX which are technically not allowed but common.

the way I am handling this in flac-1.1.3 is an undocumented option '--channel-map=none' to let flac assume the channels are in WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE's order. note that you still have to feed flac a multichannel file that uses one of the legal channel assignments (http://flac.cvs.sourceforge.net/*checkout*...ml#frame_header) if you want to make sure the decoded WAV later has the right channels in the right order with the right channel mask.

Thanks Egor, that '--channel-map=none' options seems to do the trick . However, what I don't understand is that if Foobar seems to be the problem than why does the official flac frontend has the same problem? And is there any way I can create a multichannel .wav file from six mono .wav files that conform to the specification FLAC 1.1.3 demands?

What's the simplest way to re-encode FLAC files with 1.1.3? I'm a windows user, and FLAC Frontend will not take FLAC as input to be encoded to FLAC. I want to keep all tags, etc, just encode with newer FLAC. (also, i'm not a command line master, so..)

What's the simplest way to re-encode FLAC files with 1.1.3? I'm a windows user, and FLAC Frontend will not take FLAC as input to be encoded to FLAC. I want to keep all tags, etc, just encode with newer FLAC. (also, i'm not a command line master, so..)

Cut and paste the following script (author unknown to me) into a text editor and name it something like "convert.cmd". Put in in the root of your flac directory. Doubleclick. And do something great of your day while reencoding.

, which I am hesitant to do for a bug which has such a simple workaround (adding an option).

The workaround is simple but the impact is large:1. It affects a large portion of the user base.2. It requires the users to read the known-bugs section.3. It requires the users to verify what the decimal seperator is on the system, and then take action accordingly.4. If they change locale, they must remember to change the FLAC parameter too.

Many people will be affected by this bug without knowing it. Many people will think they are affected and set the parameter to a faulty value.

This bug is not called out with regards to other versions (notable 1.1.2, 1.1.1) Can I safely assume that this section of the website is accurate, so earlier versions are free of this bug?

Triza

Yes they are BUT you should not switch back to an older version. The bug will not damage your files or do them any harm. The only issue is that the compression will not be as good as it could be, but it will still be as good as 1.1.2 (maybe a little bit better).You still profit from the enhanced tagging features and the updated decoder.

What's the simplest way to re-encode FLAC files with 1.1.3? I'm a windows user, and FLAC Frontend will not take FLAC as input to be encoded to FLAC. I want to keep all tags, etc, just encode with newer FLAC. (also, i'm not a command line master, so..)

Cut and paste the following script (author unknown to me) into a text editor and name it something like "convert.cmd". Put in in the root of your flac directory. Doubleclick. And do something great of your day while reencoding.

Note: Of course you change the directory path of flac.exe to your specific.Script takes care of the dot/comma bug.

EDIT: And it preserves the old tags.

If I use this script under Windows XP and I run this inside a map with FLAC files (no sub directories), then FLAC first encodes all files, but then starts again with the files it has already encoded. Am I doing something wrong?BTW, it saves me 900KB of 300MB of files, so the improvement is not that much :-).